This Is How To Reduce ACoS (Average Cost of Sale) on Amazon in 2019

 

• How To Reduce ACoS on Amazon: Decrease your bids, cut or negate poor performing keywords in Amazon ads, improve your product sales copy, product titles, imagery, enhanced brand content, video, Amazon ads targeting, get Amazon influencers, Amazon listing optimization & more.

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• ACoS is Average Cost of Sale.  Displayed as a percentage, (the lower the better) Amazon ACoS tells you how effective your Amazon ads are. This is Amazons preferred method of displaying Return on Ad Spend which also is displayed on Amazons Search Terms reports.

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•  Reduce ACoS to your TACOS (Target ACoS) and you will spend less to sell more. This is EXACTLY how to do just that.

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Whether you’re an Amazon Seller Central Seller, Amazon Vendor Central Seller, or selling Amazon B2B paying a ton for ads on Amazon with a high ACoS is stressful.  So stressful in fact, it can make your eyes water when looking at your Amazon campaign reports and seeing a high Average Cost of Sale (ACoS).

You’re going to learn PROVEN methods from an Amazon Seller / Amazon Consultant with over 10 years experience that are WITHIN YOUR CONTROL to reduce your ACoS on Amazon.

You’ll be able to reduce your ACoS on Amazon by focusing on:

 

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Improve Amazon Ads Targeting To Reduce ACoS On Amazon

 

In my experience, the very first place to start to reduce your ACoS on Amazon is the front lines.  The ads themselves.

Make sure you’re targeting the right customers and not showing ads to the wrong potential customers.

Naturally, your average cost of sale will go down if you are targeting potential customers that want to buy rather than those in the research phase or looking for something, in particular, that isn’t what you’re offering.

How do you find out?

 

 

Negative Keywords

Whether you’re running automatic Amazon ads on your Sponsored Product Listings or manually targeting customers with your own keyword research, you will want to always optimize these.

Here’s how:

 

 

Negative keywords are a powerful tool to make sure you aren’t wasting precious clicks on potential customers that are just doing research or looking for something completely different.

This will reduce your ACoS on Amazon by helping filter out people who aren’t a good fit to buy.

 

Reduce Bids on Poor Performing Keywords

As you’re looking through your Amazon Campaign, view the Targeting tab.

Here’s what to do next:

 

 

 

 

 

Recruit Amazon Influencers To Reduce ACoS On Amazon

 

Did you know Amazon has had Amazon Influencers referring to Amazon since 1996 and they’re responsible for over 32% of Amazons traffic today?  It’s called the Amazon Associates Program and it’s the worlds largest affiliate program.

It’s full of Bloggers, YouTubers, Social Media Influencers, Twitch Gamers, Medium Bloggers, Quora Question Answers, Facebook Group Members, EVERYONE.

They have audiences that visit their sites, videos, blogs & more RIGHT BEFORE they are ready to make a purchase.  They go to their blogs, get the information they need and then goto Amazon and make a purchase.

Better yet?  They create the types of content that GET CLICKED ON in Google, Flipboard, Apple News, Google News, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and more.

Imagine you sell a game for folks who love going to the beach.

Now, imagine if you were included in an article like this?

18 Outdoor Games You Need If You Get Bored At The Beach

That’s where you want to be to increase sales on Amazon.

They come in all shapes and sizes too; Today USA Today, Business Insider and Good House Keeping are part of the Amazon affiliate program but so are micro-influencers like Busy Toddler and everyone in between.

So, what’s it cost?

Well, this is possibly the best thing ever.

When an Amazon influencer refers a sale to Amazon, the commission comes out of Amazons’ pocket, NOT YOURS.

I’m serious, you likely have influencers who are Amazon affiliates referring sales to your products right now and don’t even know.

They’re referring sales to Amazon literally every minute, may as well be yours.

That said:

 

Brand building is everything on Amazon and even Google now.

If you’re not creating a buzz OFF of Amazon, then you will be paying a premium for your Amazon Sponsored Product Listings and Amazon Sponsored Brands ads.

Paying attention to how popular a brand is what drives decision making in Amazon’s algorithms.

Ask Alexa.  Amazon has owned it since 1999 to keep track of what brands are doing off of Amazon on websites, social and more to forecast what will sell on Amazon.  They sell that data to brands, marketing agencies and more in the form of a marketing tool.  Oh yeah, it also powers the smart speakers in your home right now.

This helps you on Google too by the way.  Ever check out Google Trends?  It will change your life.  It measures the buzz about brands online and influences Google PPC, Google SEO and more.

Building a buzz off of Amazon increases Amazon SEO, reduces Amazon ACoS in PPC and more.

Plus, think of it from a pure logic standpoint and forget complex algorithms.

If customers see your brand and product, talked about in a way that boosts its value, from someone they know like and trust, the next time they’re on Amazon and see your Amazon PPC ads, they will click on it and make a purchase.

You’ll more customers and fewer tire kickers who don’t know, like and trust you yet.

But how do I get Amazon influencers who are experienced in referring to Amazon?

 

Or, you could use Referazon who instantly finds Amazon influencers who are already experienced in referring to Amazon specifically.

Referazon doesn’t take any commissions, has a fully functional free trial and a money back guarantee.

Referazon makes it effortless to gauge the value of an Amazon influencer, track them and even tells you EXACTLY what to ask for from them to get the most value for your company.

Once again, the commission paid to the Amazon influencer comes out of AMAZON’S POCKET and generally speaking, all it takes to get started with an Amazon influencer, depending on their size is a free product for them and one for them to give away.

Your mileage may vary, referral fees have been around since at least 1760 since Robert Wedgewood of Wedgewood China started using endorsements from the Royal Family to boost their pottery sales.

The ROI from influencers referring your products on Amazon is staggering.

But what else helps influence getting the correct people to click on your ads?

 

 

Improve Amazon Product Titles To Reduce ACoS On Amazon

 

A great way to filter out people who shouldn’t be clicking on your Amazon ads is by keeping your titles ultra focused.

Besides the reviews and the image, the product title is the main determining factor of a click through for Amazon Sponsored Listing ads.

Your Amazon Product Title should do a lot of the selling for you if done correctly.

 

 

By crafting a great Product Title on Amazon, you are doing your part in making sure people who aren’t a good fit to click on your product, won’t.

Now, you’ve got the right people to click through, how else can you reduce ACoS?

 

 

Optimize Amazon Product Bullet Points & Product Descriptions To Reduce ACoS On Amazon

 

After a customer has landed on your product listing, generally speaking, they immediately begin to consume the content of your bullet point section.

From there, they then may scroll down to evaluate the Product Description area to find other details not mentioned in the Bullet Points.

If you have a poor Average Cost of Sale, this is where you want to start as far as things you can control on your listing.

 

 

Usually, a customer will make a purchase by this point if you did a good enough job with your Amazon Listing Optimization and your images, which we’ll discuss next.

If not, you still have more opportunity!

 

 

Besides being a great place to include a lot of great keywords for Amazon SEO your product descriptions and bullet points exist on your front line to convert a customer and reduce ACoS on Amazon.  (BTW, I’m an Amazon SEO Consultant that can help make getting in front of your customers much quicker & easier.)

But, that’s not all…

 

 

Make Your Amazon Product Images Sell To Reduce ACoS On Amazon

 

The quality of your product images can drastically reduce your ACoS on Amazon quickly.

Simply by leveling up from typical boring manufacturer style photos to an image set of at least 6 images (Why 6?  This is why: Amazon SEO:  Everything You Need To Know) that accomplishes the following will yield a quick improvement for your ACoS.

This is also where most folks selling Amazon B2B drop the ball, uploading lackluster images and also not enough of them on their business only SKU’s.

 

 

If your current product images on Amazon are not accomplishing these or were not taken originally with those goals in mind, then I would strongly recommend improving your Amazon product images.

Besides the angles and items listed above, there is another, easy to execute on great way to level up your Amazon product images to help reduce AcOs.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and a thousand words is worth… a picture?

Either way, combine the 2 to create:  Notes of Distinction

 

 

I am a big fan of MIO (Make it Obvious) and that’s exactly what’s going on here in the image.

If you’re an avid gardener, you may know that is a Transplanter and the other is a Trowel, and you may even know what they do, but to me they’re just little shovels.

Going the extra mile adding Notes of Distinction to your Amazon product photography also adds a premium feel for potential customers.

Don’t mark up every product photo, focus on answering key questions or highlighting key areas of value on certain product images that could benefit from it the most.

You don’t want to go overboard either.

Images can start to look cluttered in a hurry if you add too many notes and this takes away from your original intent, which is answering customer questions and calling their focus to specific areas of the product image.

If you can’t seem to get your point across in product images and want to add more text to your imagery, the next section is made especially for you.

 

Use Amazon Enhanced Branded Content & A+ Detail Pages To Reduce ACoS On Amazon

 

Whether you are selling on Amazon Seller Central or Amazon Vendor Central, you have an incredibly powerful conversion weapon available to you.

Have a look at this…

 

 

Notice on the top part of the image, you see the Best Seller badge?

Want to know why it’s a best seller?

The content that follows beneath it.

If you’re selling on Amazon Seller Central and are Brand Registered, it’s called Enhanced Branded Content. (Learn more about Amazon Brand Registry here:  Amazon Brand Registry: The Complete Guide)

If you’re a Vendor Central Seller, it is called an A+ Detail Page.

 

 

Essentially, Amazon lets you build landing pages on your Amazon listing with extra content that is not allowed in the Product Description area.

These convert EXTREMELY well because they are mini-landing pages.

Amazon Enhanced Branded Content and A+ Detail Pages play a significant role in reducing Amazon ACoS.

That being said, here are your goals with Enhanced Branded Content or A+ Detail Pages…

 

 

Your Amazon Enhanced Branded Content and A+ Detail Pages need to accomplish the following:

 

 

Enhanced Branded Content and A+ Detail Pages are great tools to reduce ACoS on Amazon.  The extra effort on your listing is WELL worth it.

As Ferris Bueller would say “you still here?”

Well, if you are, I’ve got a BONUS tip to reduce your ACoS on Amazon.

 

 

BONUS: Reduce ACoS on Amazon With Product Explainer Videos

 

Those selling on Vendor Central have had access to this for a while now but it is starting to roll out to Brand Registered sellers on Amazon Seller Central.

Any time anyone reaches out for Amazon Seller Help one of the first questions I ask is if they are Brand Registered because I am trying to gauge what kind of tools do we have access to in order for it to be a successful project.

Having an Explainer Video changes the game.  Have a look:

 

 

Remember that best seller badge?  Well here is ANOTHER reason why it is a Best Seller.

See the video that appears on the left-hand side in the images section?

If you click on it, you can watch a short Explainer video that does a great job at conveying the value the product brings to the customer.

Video on Amazon does wonders for your conversions, how long people stay on your listing and a multitude of other factors that are directly responsible for how high Amazon chooses to display your products in Amazon product searches.

Why does that matter?

Well, the more you show up organically for Amazon product searches, the less you will have to pay in ads, thus reducing your ACoS.

So does that mean you need to produce a full commercial with all of the bells and whistles just to reduce your ACoS on Amazon?

Not really.  Here is what you should focus on when doing an Explainer Video for Amazon.

 

 

Now, don’t just bust out the IPhone and knock out an explainer video.

There is a laundry list of things you CANNOT do on an Amazon video unless you want to violate Amazon’s TOS such as adding in your website, directing folks off Amazon or adding in pricing.

Still, that being said if you have the means to produce an Explainer video.  You will definitely want to.

 

How To Reduce ACoS On Amazon:  The Recap

 

Of course, getting a ton of reviews will reduce your average cost of sale on Amazon but as far as things you can control right now, today on your listing, these will give you the biggest bang for your buck.

 

 

You CAN reduce your ACoS on Amazon, it is just likely more difficult than you anticipated, but that’s the great part.

Most folks aren’t willing to go to the lengths that you are to succeed on Amazon and THAT is your competitive advantage.

If you need help with anything you’ve read here, I’m happy to make things quicker & easier for you.

Having great products and not selling is agonizing.  Dominating competitors and selling through inventory is intensely gratifying.

I’m a top-rated Amazon Consultant & eCommerce Consultant with 10+ years of experience that can help you level up on Amazon in a hurry.